[CHAPTER 10] 

A (UN)PLEASANT SURPRISE

__________________

THE FIRST THING EMILY felt when she came to was pain. She was aware of a strong smell of disinfectant flooding her nostrils, and opened her eyes to the blindingly white ceiling of the infirmary.

"Oh good, you're awake," said the voice of Madam Pomfrey, "You gave us quite a turn,"

The small but stout healer rearranged the pillows behind Emily's head to allow her to sit up slightly, making Emily wince from the intense pain in her ribs.

"Oh yes, that'll hurt for some time," Madam Pomfrey said, "I can fix bones, but the bruising from the impact of the fall will last a week at least,"

Emily's eyes swept across the infirmary and only then noticed a figure sitting hunched in a chair, a little way off the left of her bed. She recognized a familiar mop of messy raven black hair, parted slightly to reveal the thin lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.

"He's been here all night," Pomfrey said, following her gaze "Refused to leave your side until you woke, a right pain he was,"

With that, the healer walked away towards her office, closing the door. The sound seemed to startle Harry awake, and his eyes shot wide open, before settling on Emily.

"You're awake," he said groggily, and she smiled.

"Looks like you aren't," she teased, and he smiled lightly as he stretched.

"How bad was it?" she asked, and he sighed.

"You had a broken nose, a fractured ankle and two broken ribs," he said, and Emily grimaced.

"Those I feel," she said with another groan as she adjusted on her pillows, "Apparently I just love hospitals," 

She said it with a laugh, and Harry shook his head jokingly.

"Please, no more," he said.

"Don't worry, I'm quite done hurting myself,"

"Does this mean you'll quit Quidditch?" Harry asked, trying to make his voice sound as neutral as possible. Emily didn't miss the undertone of worry.

"Not unless I have to," she said, and a look of relief spread over Harry's face, one he didn't even try to cover up.

"Thank god," he breathed, "don't think I could handle Cormac McLaggen making another try at joining the team. Did you know he's offered to fill in for you three times since your accident? He kept showing up here and finally Madam Pomfrey had to chase him out,"

"Remind me to hex him," Emily muttered, and Harry smiled.

"But in all seriousness, Em, nobody can replace you," he said with so much sincerity it made Emily blush.

"Thanks," she said with a smile, "You're a pretty great captain,"

There was a moment of silence, in which Emily admired how handsome he looked, even with his hair messed up and the sleep still in his eyes.

He cleared his throat, looking like he was readying himself to say something.

"Listen, Em, I was thinking..."

Emily's heart started beating faster in her chest as she watched Harry wring his hands nervously. What was he going to say?

"Maybe you wanted to go to–"

"Emily!"

Kate has come striding into the sick bay, followed by a hassled-looking Violetta.

Emily felt a pang of annoyance for her friend as Harry stopped talking promptly.

"Thank god you're okay, I wanted to see you earlier, but that cow Pomfrey wouldn't let us in," Kate said in one breath, before leaning forward and enveloping Emily in a bone-crushing hug. Pain shot through every inch of her body as Kate made contact with her bruised ribs.

"Kate...", she brought out, as tears sprang into her eyes, "My ribs,"

"Oh god I'm sorry," Kate said, releasing her and standing back with a horrified expression on her face.

Harry stood by the side of her bed, the expression on his face making it clear he was annoyed he had just been interrupted.

"I'll just go then, I have to get to class," he said with a tight smile, and before Emily could say anything, he had picked up his bag, slung it over his shoulder, and taken off.

"What's with him?" Violetta asked, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"Don't freak out but I think, I think, he was about to ask me out,"

"Well, why didn't he?" Kate said in astonishment, and an annoyed look crossed over Emily's face.

"Because you interrupted him by barging in here," Emily accused.

"Oh," Kate said as her face fell, "Sorry,"

"It's alright," she said with a sigh, "It was probably nothing,"

__________

Emily was only let out of the sickbay a week later, but Harry had not visited her since that day. Strangely enough, Violetta and Kate had also made themselves scarce and had come to visit her twice this week. When she finally got out, it was Hermione who greeted her at the entrance of the infirmary.

"Welcome back!" she said with a smile, and Emily gave her a forced smile.

"Violetta and Kate not here?" Emily asked, peering around, and Hermione smiled awkwardly.

"I'm the welcome wagon, I'm afraid," she said, and Emily nodded as they started walking towards the common room.

"How come you're not with Harry or Ron?" Emily asked, and she grimaced.

"Well Harry said he was busy, and Ron doesn't seem to be able to detach himself from Lavender brown's lips, so–" she said with distaste, and Emily interrupted her.

"When did that happen?" she asked with a frown, and Hermione got a pained look on her face.

"They got together at the party after the game, and now I can't seem to go two feet is this godforsaken castle without finding them glued to each," she said, and Emily gave her a reassuring smile.

"It won't last, Hermione," she said pointedly, "Sooner or later he'll realize who he's really supposed to be with,"

Hermione blushed furiously, but said nothing.

"Did you get the invitation to Slughorn's party?" she asked, attempting to change the subject, and Emily nodded.

In fact, she had gotten it weeks ago and stubbornly ignored it until Slughorn had personally marched into the infirmary three days ago to assure himself she would be attending next week.

"Are you going with someone?" Hermione asked, and Emily shrugged, not noticing Hermione's small smile.

"No, can't think of anyone I'd go with," she replied.

This was not true. Since Slughorn's visit, with little else to do in the infirmary and a lack of company, she had found herself thinking more and more about who she would consider going with to the party. Her mind had only ever presented her with the same name over and over, which she had continually dismissed as best she could.

"Who did you invite?" Emily asked, and Hermione looked embarrassed for a moment.

"Well Harry invited me to go, as friends, but I'd already asked someone,"

Emily's stomach sank. She'd been wrong after all.

"So who're you going with?" she asked, and Hermione turned a bright shade of pink.

"Oh...um, it's a surprise," she said, and Emily was about to protest at the lack of information, but they had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, who looked down on them, one eyebrow raised.

"Password?"

"Baubles," Hermione said, and Emily grinned.

"Festive," she said with a laugh, as they climbed through the portrait hole.

The minute they entered the common room, there was an explosion of noise that startled Emily so much she reached for her wand.

Two dozen people stood in the common room, which had been decorated with a mixture of Christmas decorations and colorful garlands, and a large banner that read: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY (and welcome back)"

Violetta, Kate, Harry, Ron, Lavender, Gin and the majority of Emily's fellow Gryffindors stood with smiles on their face and drinks in their hands.

Emily let out a surprised laugh as Violetta approached her and gave her a hug.

"I thought you'd forgotten," Emily spluttered, and Kate gave her a shove.

"What kind of friends do you think we are?" she said, and Emily wrapped an arm around her shoulder and hugged her tight, ignoring the pain in her ribs.

"Thank you," she said with a large grin, as slowly the room began to fill with party chatter.

A butterbeer was shoved into her hand as Ron stepped towards her. Emily did not miss the jealous gleam in Lavender's eye as he addressed her.

"Happy birthday Ems," he beamed, and he crushed her into a hug. Emily smiled until she caught a glimpse of Lavender over Ron's shoulder, who looked as though she would be hexing Emily if she wasn't currently hugging Ron.

She pulled away with a smile and looked around her, noticing Harry was standing a little way off, next to Hermione, and they were engaged in a heated conversation. As she stepped towards them, she could hear their voices only slightly over the party chatter. 

"You're being ridiculous," she heard Hermione say in an accusatory tone, and Harry let out a scoff.

"Oh sure, and you're still refusing to tell me who you invited because it's a surprise," he said sarcastically, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"That's different, you actually like each other, it makes perfect sense– Emily!"

She had looked up and noticed Emily standing behind Harry, and had promptly clamped her mouth shut.

Emily smiled.

"Hey," she said, and Hermione shot Harry a pointed look.

"I'm going to get a drink," she said, before turning on her heel and disappearing into the crowd.

"I hope you're not too mad with me for not coming to visit you more," Harry said, "I wanted to, but Kate thought I'd blab about the party and practically forbade it,"

"Sound very Kate-like," Emily replied and he chuckled, "And no, I'm not angry, I'm relieved actually,"

"Relieved that I didn't visit?" Harry asked, his eyebrows knitting together, and a touch of hurt in his voice.

"No, silly," Emily said, "Relieved that I hadn't scared you off,"

"What on earth could you have done to scare me off?" he asked, disbelieved.

"Well, I don't know, when you came to visit me I had a feeling you um...you were going to ask me to Slughorn's party...." she trailed off, cheeks burning as she looked down at her shoes.

Why on earth was she bringing this up now?

Harry was silent for a second, and Emily was sure she had just ruined it.

"I was going to," he said, and Emily looked up in surprise as she felt butterflies erupt in her stomach, "I mean I'd still like to, uh–"

"Hiya Harry!" a voice screeched behind him, and Romilda Vane had just trotted up to them.

Emily's face flashed with annoyance as Romilda sidled up to Harry, a box of chocolate cauldrons in her hands.

"I just thought you played so well last week, in that game..." she trailed off and seemed to only now notice Emily.

"Oh," she said, her voice sounding distinctively less sweet, "All better, Emily?"

"Fine," Emily said tightly, and Romilda smiled fakely.

"I heard a rumor that Seamus Finnigan was planning on asking you to Slughorn's party," she giggled, "You thinking about saying yes?"

Now it was Harry's turn to look annoyed.

"Actually," Emily said, "I just asked Harry to go with me,"

Romilda dropped her box of chocolates and they clattered to the floor.

Harry had to fight to hide a smile at the look on Romilda's face, but couldn't hide the bright red color of his cheeks at the idea of going to the party with Emily.

He leaned down to pick up the box of chocolates, and handed them to her.

"You dropped this," he said in a monotone voice, and Romilda's gaze slid from Emily back to him.

"You keep them," she said with a bat of her eyelids, before shooting a last glare in Emily's direction, turning around and striding away.

The minute she was out of earshot, Emily started to laugh.

"I think you have an admirer," she said to Harry, and his cheeks burned an even brighter red than before.

"Shut up, Em," he grumbled, before taking a swig of his drink, "But thanks for saving my butt, there,"

"Well, you're not out of the woods yet. I'd watch yourself around those chocolates, rumor has it she's been trying to slip you a love potion for weeks,"

Harry looked down at the cauldrons with a grimace.

"Right," he said, "I think I'll just..."

He laid them down on the drinks table distastefully.

"So, who are you going with to the party?" Harry asked her, and she let out a bark of laughter.

"Do you have wax in your ears or something, Potter?" she teased, "I do believe I just said I'd be going with you,"

"Oh," Harry said, but he couldn't hide the large grin appearing on his face, "I thought you were joking,"

"Well, unless you don't want to–"

"No! I mean yes, I'd like to," Harry interrupted, and she smiled at him.

"That's settled then," she said, and her eyes focused on something, rather someone, standing behind Harry. 

It was Kate, trying hard to look like she hadn't just heard the entire exchange, and when saw that Emily was staring at her, she gave her a big grin and a not-so-discrete thumbs up.